Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pressing private parking garage and lot owners across New York City to stop letting Immigration and Customs Enforcement use their property for staging operations, according to a draft letter circulating from his office.
The letter instructs owners to “make it known to ICE that it is not authorized to use your garages and lots.” It warns that allowing ICE to use a property as “a launching point for operations that have terrified and terrorized local communities” risks “placing your property, your employees, and your customers at the center” of those enforcement actions.
The push follows last week’s arrest of Oscar Belgal, an illegal immigrant, which set off renewed calls from progressive activists for Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s removal and anger directed at the owners of the Bronx parking garage ICE agents used to stage that operation.
Federal law does not require state or local governments to cooperate with immigration enforcement, but Mamdani’s letter marks an active effort to organize private businesses against it rather than simply declining cooperation.
Garage and lot owners in New York City operate under city oversight, including structural safety and building code inspections, periodic engineering reviews, and, for many outdoor lots, licensing through the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.
This is not the first time public pressure has pushed a property owner away from ICE. The Hudson River Park Trust cut its parking contract with ICE at Pier 40 last June after protests.
ICE’s current enforcement priority is removing migrants convicted of violent crimes, including murder and rape, who are in the country illegally. Critics argue that blocking staging locations makes that enforcement work harder and riskier rather than stopping it.
